The building
of forty-two houses for the English settlers first laid the
foundations of the present town of Kenmare. "The population,"
writes Lord Macaulay, "amounted to a hundred and eighty. The land
round the town was well cultivated. The cattle were numerous. Two
small barks were employed in fishing and trading along the coast.
The supply of herrings, pilchards, mackerel, and salmon, was
plentiful, and would have been still more plentiful had not the
beach been, in the finest part of the year, covered by multitudes of
seals, which preyed on the fish of the bay. Yet the seal was not an
unwelcome visitor: his fur was valuable; and his oil supplied light
through the long nights of winter. An attempt was made with great
success to set up ironworks. It was not yet the practice to employ
coal for the purpose of smelting; and the manufacturers of Kent and
Sussex had much difficulty in procuring timber at a reasonable
price. The neighbourhood of Kenmare was then richly wooded; and
Petty found it a gainful speculation to send ore thither." He
looked also for profit from the variegated marbles of adjacent
islands. Distant two days' journey over the mountains from the
nearest English, Petty's English settlement of Kenmare withstood all
surrounding dangers, and in 1688, a year after its founder's death,
defended itself successfully against a fierce and general attack.
Sir William Petty died at London, on the 16th of December, 1687, and
was buried in his native town of Romsey.
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